Using What's Available
by wilberarron
Summary: In my second revised Sta Wars story, Allan Wilson has returned to his former rebel base out in the middle of nowhere. He looks to reunite with his old friends. He is immediately involved in a poorly planned attack on an Imperial base to get needed supplies. Things go wrong and the operation turns deadly for all involved. Their only hope of escape is to use what is available.


**Using What's Available**

 **A Star Wars Fan Fiction Story**

 **By Wilber Arron**

Again, Lucan and Disney own the right, I am just borrowing them again.

"How's the new leg?" the Colonel asked.

He looked down at his new bionic leg. "Not bad, now that I am use to it, I hardly notice the change. The new bioengineering software makes it behave exactly like the original."

"I see you completed flight training and you are now a qualified freighter pilot," the Colonel went on. "I am glad you chose the surgery. That old leg of yours was useless."

Allen Wilson had second thoughts about that. "Well, I was born with it and it worked just fine until Hoth. That is unimportant. Now, what do you want me to do now that I am back in the armpit of the galaxy?"

Colonel Ranker shook his head. "You will never change," he laughed. "I have about half a dozen of those new advanced A-wings we just got. They are faster, better armed, and maneuver like a Gallorian sea slug. The pilots want to know if we can increase the maneuverability. You are one of the best flight control people I know. I thought I give you a shot at it."

Back into the frying pan he thought. The pilot did not understand. "Kaut Yards does not like field techs messing with their products. That fighter has made raw speed its top priority. The whole fighter is geared toward that. With high sublight speed there is a trade off in turning rate. No matter how good the inertial dampeners and the grav compensators are, you simply cannot turn on a credit coin when you are doing 30 kps. The physics won't allow it. I will try, but I can promise you nothing."

"Do what you can, we made need them soon," Ranker said taking a deep breath. "Ackbar got some new operation up his gills that he thinks may win this war. He wants us and the other outposts ready in case he needs support."

"Like we haven't heard that before," he muttered out loud, "Any details on this?"

"Nope," Ranker said. "Need to know basis and we don't need to know."

"Typical," he grunted. "Where do you want me to bunk?"

"Well since you are a qualified pilot and technical supervisor, you have been assigned officer quarters. I've already told Q-staff and they have something for you in B Block. Check with the duty officer there and he will show you your place. Your stuff has already been sent over. We got your old lab working. Your tech equipment was sent there."

"OK, as soon as I get settled I will start working on those A-wings," he said getting up out of his chair. "Place should not have changed much in the year I have been gone. Is Captain Marcom still around?"

"Major Marcom just got back leading three strike steams to Aerius," Ranker told him. "The Imperial scouting base there is no more. She got back twenty hours ago."

"I will try looking her up," he said. Since he was still a civi he didn't salute, but offered his hand. Ranker took it gladly."

"Glad you're back, Allen," he said and went back to his work.

Although he didn't expect it, the duty officer on B Block knew exactly where his quarters were and took him to them promptly. "Mr. Wilson, Major Marcom sends her respects and says she will join you later," he reported.

"Excellent, thank you cadet," he said to the young man barely out of first level officer training.

The room was not bad. About ten meters on a side with a private WC and fresher installed. There was a work desk, a large bed, and a basic entertainment center with computer. He set to work unpacking his personal things which took him about a quarter hour. He didn't own much and liked to travel light. Two dress uniforms sets, half a dozen work cloths sets, protective suit and his personal items including his DL-44 blaster he carried on the mission that made his name around here. He barely filled one of two dressers. He checked his complink for messages, there were none, and looking at the time, figured he'd get dinner before going to his lab. He needed to study the tech manuals on the new A-wings before he started taking them apart. He was about to leave when there was a knock at the side door. All quarters were linked through side doors in case the main corridor was compromised. They were normally kept shut and locked. He went to the door and opened it.

There in the other doorway stood Major Ilene Marcom, a rather nice looking woman his age. A hard nose, hard ass, strike leader, she took no nonsense from anyone. When not on duty though, she could be a nice person. He found her to be smart, dedicated, alert, efficient, and highly competent. She had beautiful brown hair, natural green eyes, a full but not excessive figure, and the most gorgeous pair of legs he every saw on any female of any species. All of these were plainly visible to him.

"I thought I catch you before dinner," she said wearing a huge smile and nothing else.

"Screw dinner," he said and drew her next to him.

It was later, near start of first shift, when they woke. She was certainly glad he was back and he hoped he gave her the same message.

"Time to get going," she said still smiling.

Just then there was a loud squeal from next to their bed and from his room. It was their complinks calling out a general alert.

"All command staff, all command staff, emergency meeting in conference room one in fifteen minutes. Attendance is mandatory." Even the computerized voice sounded agitated.

"You've got to be flipping kidding me," he growled and ran back to his room. He grabbed his clothing and hurrily put it on. By then Ilene was dressing in a pullover uniform. They were both running down the hall way within two minutes. If felt good to be able to run again. They trotted past the security crews after showing their IDs and filed into the main conference room. Maybe fifty people were already there from all the command and support sections. Ranker was up behind the podium in a hastily put on uniform of his own. Ranker waited until it was exactly fifteen minutes after the hour before starting. Staff was still filing in. They found two seats near the front. Only after they sat did Ilene speak up.

"Sorry about that," she said looking somewhat embarrassed.

"Later," he said not hiding his frustration. "Let us see what the emergency is. Most likely some political staffer lost their pet cat at Alliance Headquarters."

"OK, everyone sit down," Ranker ordered. "We have just gotten some information from our contacts on Blane. It appears the Imperials are closing down their operations there and moving to a new forward base on Toffs. Our information says they moved out four days ago with their fighters, technical staff, ground troops, transports and pilots. According to our contacts, the base is empty except for their automated defense system. The rest of the story I leave to Major Gurien.

The Quarren got up from his seat and made his way behind the podium. "Normally we would not care about this," he started. His voice sounding like it was speaking underwater. "We have known for some time the Imperials wanted to move that base. It is one of their older bases; it does not support their newest fighters, and is not in the best position to oppose our operations in this subsector. The new base on Toffs is of their latest type and meets all of these requirements."

The Quarren paused to let everyone take in the information before continuing. "Here is the crux of the matter. While the Imperial forces have moved out, their supply depot that supported the operation was not removed. It appears the recovery team assigned to remove anything useful and then destroy the base got delayed by an Alliance operation in the adjoining subsector. It will be a few days before they can get there. Meanwhile we have an entire Imperial forward base supply depot unguarded except for some droids. That includes food stuffs, power cells, flight equipment; various repair parts, weapons, and other combat supplies. All of this material we can repurpose for our use."

That got everyone's attention. Although their supply situation had improved in the year he had been away, they will still on a shoestring logistics budget. If they had TIE power cells, well it wasn't much effort to fit them into the Y-wings.

"What we propose to do is send a full strike force to take out the Droids and then loot the base. The X-wings will provide close in support, the Y-wings will escort the five large transports we are sending, and the A-wings will handle long distance patrols. With any luck we can get in there, neutralize the base security, pack everything into the freighters, and get out within a single day. Our fighter support will not last much longer than that without carriers which we do not have."

"Any questions?" Gurien asked.

Shinard the lead freighter pilot called out. "Are we going to have any deep patrols set up just in case our friends come back for their loot while we are high-jacking it? If they hyperspace in-system in the outer reaches, we might not pick them up from the planet."

"The new A-wings will cover that," Ranker called from his desk. "They are fast enough to cover the patrol distance and have good enough sensors to pick up anything."

"That is nice," Lieutenant Juewl one of the strike force platoon leaders said, "But what if they jump in-system close? They could be on us before we know it"

"That is why we are sending the entire wing of X-wings all armed with concussion missiles," Ranker answered. "The two squadrons of Y-wings will have torps to hit anything big."

"Crude," he said out loud. "That will leave the base almost stripped."

"And the five transport means we are taking the entire strike force," Ilene said shaking her head. "This is going to be cute."

Ranker then got up and walked over toward them. "Yes, I know," he said empathically. "I am committing the bulk of our forces to this one operation. The risk here is worth it. If we can get those stores, they will supply us almost unaided for a full year. This is my decision and I have made it."

He then stopped and looked around the room. "Major Marcom, I need you to prepare a plan of attack for this base. Major Jeffers, we need to supply the entire strike force with weapons and armor. The Technical crew will also need to be supplied. Captain Stuffel, I need your ground crews to have every fighter that can fly, fully fueled, fully armed and ready to go. Krelema, I need your best five cargo crews to go with them. Your fellow Wookies would really be of great help on this. We will have to move stores and move them fast. Assume we won't have anything else to help us except what we take. Wilson, you get your tech teams ready to scour the base and do sensor scans. We will need to look at the tech parts and we won't have a lot of time."

"This is starting to sound familiar," he said with a smile.

"At least you can run now," Ilene said.

Squadron Leaders, Orksin, Ferris, Ramier, Singrus, Alkazar, and Storic will coordinate the fighters, and Mr. Shinard will coordinate the freighters. I need everything ready to go in 24 hours. We are on the clock folks, let's move."

The conference room emptied out in a chorus of shouting leaders assembling their teams. No sleep tonight he knew."

####

"OK, one more time here is the plan," he said for at least the tenth time. "We are about to land. We will all stay put until Major Marcom and her teams neutralize the base security. We will follow her up. Once we get there, we will break off in pairs for a fast base recon. Each tech team will searched their assigned part of the base. We need to cover that base like a blanket fast, find everything there, catalog it, and then help them load it."

"Will we have to do any fighting?" one of the new techs asked.

"With any luck no, but I gave you all blaster pistols just in case so use them if you have too. That is also why I gave the Chief and Mr. Warden the blaster rifles; they know how to use them. I know I have said this fifty times in the last day, but I will say it again, we need not just speed, but accuracy. We need to loot everything useful out of that base and be out of there before the Imperials show up."

"Same plan for us?" a hooded figure carrying a load of electronic gear spoke up.

"You sensor crews and Mr. Warden will proceed right to the docking bay and set up. No cargo goes on those freighters until it is first scanned by at least two crews. We can't take the chance the Imperial leaving us some surprises in this cargo. There are enough of you to set up four sensor crews so get that equipment set up and calibrated first thing. First freighter arrives half an hour after Major Marcom declares the base secure. The Colonel wants to start loading immediately after that."

He looked around at the forty-three men under his charge. Some like the Chief and Mr. Warden had been fighting this war since he was a child. Half of his crew had been around for about five years and were experienced. Half were almost brand new and had only a rough idea of what to do. He pared a newbie with an experience man. Most looked eager, some looked scared out of their wits, but all looked determined.

"You all have complinks. They are set so you can talk to each other and me without disturbing anyone else. If you run into something you don't know, ask. We have to be fast, but we have to be right first. I will be near Colonel Ranker, so if you need me, call me. Any questions?"

There were none. That was good because his knees were knocking. Personal combat was never his forte.

"Secure," he heard through the freighter's speakers. "We are landing."

He grabbed a strap and bent his knees to absorb the shock. The pilot put the ship down hard, but not so hard that anything broke. A second later the rear ramp dropped down and out rushed a local security team to secure the perimeter. He kept his men back inside on the small chance someone was around who did not want them there. It wasn't long before he heard in his command complink

"Perimeter secure," the detachment leader told them all.

"OK, everyone out to the end of the perimeter," he shouted. "Be ready to go in on my word."

He watched the Chief and Warden lead their people over to the marked edge of the perimeter. He was glad they had a small grav lifter for the heavy equipment. He saw at least 450 fully armored and heavily armed troopers rushing the base. He caught a glimpse of Ilene behind the lead assault company giving instructions. They reached the base of the hill the Imperials built their base on top of. By then he saw the red banner of the HQ being set up and Ranker sitting down at the commset to listen in. He trotted over, which on his new leg he was glad he could do. As he approached he saw Ranker look up.

"Your people ready?" he asked.

"Ready on the word from the Major," he reported.

He took out his viewer and started to look over the base. It sat quietly like nothing was happening. As the first company reached the base's outer door he noted movement on the top of the pasti-steel fortification. He saw a dozen half spheres about a meter in diameter pop up quickly from the base fortification. He knew what they were.

"Pop up towers," he called out loud.

"Pop ups" Ranker yelled into the commset. A second later the towers extended outward and blaster fire started to rain down on the assault teams."

"X-Wing Leader, I need a flight to come down and take out those towers." Ranker called out.

"Roger, Strike Leader, four coming down now."

"Major, X-wings on attack, get your people under cover," Ranker said calmly.

He looked at the ground attack and saw the 450 people hit the dirt as one unit. A second later he heard the high pitch whine of X-wing engines. He saw two X-wings approach and as they got close fire concussion missiles at the pop up towers. Just after they fired he saw the side panels drop on the control tower and half a dozen turbo lasers opened up on the two X-wings. With their speed and power, both X-wings dove and streaked over the top of the base with the turbo lasers trying in vain to target the craft. There was a series of explosion from the top of the fortification. He saw several of the pop up towers explode into a shower of sparks and debris. Over half were knocked out, but he could still see some firing. By now he saw the second pair of X-wings coming down in a dive. They switched targets and put half a dozen concussions missiles into the control tower. There was a huge explosion as the top half of the control tower blew itself apart and the wreckage fell all along the top of the fortification destroying two more of the pop up towers.

"Nice shooting, X-Wing leader," Ranker told them. "I need another pass to take out the rest of those pop up towers"

"Roger, Strike Leader," one of the X-Wing pilots said on general frequency. "Everyone keep you heads down we are going in low this time."

The three remaining spheres continued to fire for about half a minute when he saw a shadow overhead. He never heard the X-wing, it was going too fast. It was so low he felt for sure the pilot was going to crash into the fortification, but he pulled up at the last moment raking the top of the fortification with fire from his four laser cannons. His wingman came in right behind and did the same. Afterwards both X-wings streaked away with a roar leaving the top of the armored fortification a smoking ruin. Nothing was shooting down at the assault force.

"Great job," Ranker shouted out.

"Demo team," I need to blow open that front door," he heard Ilene shout.

Over the next few minutes the assault team spread out in an arc near the heavily armored front door providing cover for the demo team as they went to work. It did not take them long. They put a row of charges at the top and bottom of the door and one large shaped charge at the center. When they were done they cleared out.

"Clear out and hit the deck," Ilene called out, "We blow the door in 30."

The 450 or so troopers and other soldiers scattered in as many directions and then went flat. He saw the demo team leader hold up his hand with five fingers. He brought his fingers down one at a time until he had only a fist, then the arm came down fast. The next second there was a bright flash followed a split second later by a huge "KKAAAABOOOOOMMM". The ground shook under him. It took a while for the dust to clear, but when it did, there was a very nice hole in armored door you could drive a hover tank through.

Ilene then started to bark orders. "First Platoon, First Company, enters and swing right. Second Platoon, First Company, behind them and swing left. Third Platoon, First Company, get up to the second deck and secure that hanger. Second Company takes ready position. Third Company forms an outside perimeter."

He watched the troops swarm around inside and outside the base. As the Third Platoon went in, Ranker called out. "Up to the gate."

With that the headquarters staff and equipment on a hover platform proceeded forward at a trot. He reached for his complink. "Chief, bring them up to the front door and hold."

"SIR!" was all he heard in return. He saw his men start going forward. He trotted up the two hundred meters until he was about ten meters from the huge hole in the door. From inside he could hear blaster fire and an occasional explosion. Something inside was opposing them. He tried not to look at the medics attending to about half a dozen wounded. Three others were still on the ground and not moving. He hoped these supplies were worth it.

"Watchdog to Strike Leader," he head from the HQ commset.

"Strike Leader, go," Ranker told him.

"Sir, we just picked up a coded transmission pulse from the base. Very powerful and very focused. It was a short six character message and then went dead. No chance to jam it. It looks to be traveling out to someone in-system."

He saw Ranker think for a second before answering. "Have one of the A-Wings fly along the message vector and try to find out who this was for. Blast whatever they find."

"Understood, Watchdog out," came the immediate reply.

"Second Company," Marcom called out, "Inside and secure the three lower levels and the supplies. Watch it, they left several guard droids."

"Second Company, Roger," a calm mature voice answered.

He watched the hundred fifty personnel of Company Two run through the opening. That left them rather open out here and he started to feel it. He reached down and took his DL-44's primary safety off. He reached for his complink. "Heads on gimbals, folks, I don't want anyone sneaking up on us."

The blaster fire and explosions went on for some while. Nothing bothered them out here. Then he heard the call he was waiting for.

"This is Marcom, base secure," she reported sounding out of breath.

Ranker looked up and pointed at him. He reached for his complink. "Let's go Chief break up into teams and spread out. Sensor team set up in the hanger bay. I will be there."

He helped carry the senor equipment inside. He saw pieces of basted droid in the halls. A few wounded troopers. Primary, secondary and emergency power was cut to the base so they had to haul the heavy sensor equipment up two flights of stairs. They had to make it in two trips. By then troops had arrived and his teams fanned out. The effort had exhausted him. He could have never of made it with his bad leg. He help set up the four sets of sensor equipment and within fifteen minutes three of the four sets were working. The fourth set was having problems. He spent another ten minutes getting that going. By then the first sleds of equipment were coming up the useless lift shafts.

"This is Colonel Ranker," he heard in his earpiece. "Get the dead and wounded up to the hanger bay. First transport approach and land in the hanger bay."

He got the sensor crew working on the first pallets. As he looked at them he noticed they looked all screwed up. Food stuffs were mixed with electronic parts like someone almost made the pallets up at random.

"Wilson," he heard Warden call out.

"What," he called back.

Warden pointed to half a dozen pallets. "These pallets are all screwed up. We can't scan them like this, we have to calibrate the sensors on type of cargo and everything is just too mixed up. If you want these pallets scanned properly, we are going to have to sort this stuff out first."

He looked at the pallets that were still coming in, still all mixed up. Warden was right; the sensors would never work right if the cargo was like this. Something was wrong here. Any Imperial supply officer would have been shot by his commander for arranging cargo like this. It was almost like they wanted it mixed up. He looked at the pallets again and felt a cold chill down his back. He reached for his complink.

"Colonel Ranker, Major Marcom, come to the hanger deck sensor stations we have a problem here."

He heard an immediate reply from both. He continued to examine the pallets. The more he looked the more he became convinced these pallets were arranged that way. He saw the Colonel and the Major walk into the hanger deck. He ran over.

"These pallets are all screwed up. They have food stuffs, electronic parts, power cells, medical supplies, weapons, all mixed up on the pallets. We can't get an accurate scan like this."

"That's what my people were telling me," Ilene added. "What idiot supply officer did this?"

"That's the point, Il . . . Ah Major," he corrected himself. "A supply officer would not. Someone arranged these pallets like this deliberately. It is almost like they are presenting us with a choice, put the pallets in unscanned, or take the time to sort all of this out and do a proper job. If the later, it will take us a lot longer to collect and load this stuff."

"Delay tactic," Ranker muttered. "That means they knew we were coming and what we would come for."

"It's a trap," Ilene said out loud.

"And a damn good one because they know we need this stuff," Ranker said gritting his teeth.

He looked directly at Ranker expecting a bug out order. That was SOP when an operation was blown. "What are the orders, Colonel, I can do it fast and sloppy, slow and right, or just leave, you call it."

"No way am I going to abandon this cargo, or allow it to go to our base unscanned," Ranker said forcefully. "We need this cargo and we need it badly. Still, one MAM change in all that mess and our asteroid base would get blown to bits. If we go slow, then any incoming force may trap us here."

Ranker turned and looked away off in the distance. He knew better than to disturb him when he was concentrating. He turned to look at Ilene who shrugged her shoulders indicating she did not know what to do. Ranker stopped and reached for his general complink.

"This is Ranker to Company Three commander. Howard, do we have room outside the base to set down four transports in a secure holding area near the door until they are ready for them in here."

There was a few seconds delay before he heard the answer, "Yes, but why would you want to?"

"Because this is a trap and I may need to move everyone out of here on a moment's notice cargo or no cargo."

"Got it," the company commander said. "Give me thirty minutes and I can clear enough trees so you can put down a Mon Calamari cruiser outside the door."

"Do it, you got twenty minutes," Ranker out."

He then saw Ranker fiddle with his command complink. At once all the complinks beeped on every trooper. No doubt this was going to everyone at once.

"This is Colonel Ranker. This operation is starting to smell like a trap. I need all space forces on full alert. I need to know the second anyone spots a pregnant Mynock out there never mind a ship. At the first word that anyone spots anything substantial jumping in from hyperspace I will give the command to everyone here to run outside and grab the first transport you see. As soon as everyone is aboard, the transports will lift off and jump into hyperspace ASAP. I am going to put the wounded on the first transport in here. Everyone keep your eyes open. The Imperials know we are here for sure."

That went over like a lead balloon. The faces around him all looked they sucked on Alterian limes. Ranker then walked over to him. "What are you going to need to sort this cargo fast?"

"Hands and bodies," he answered. "With just my crew and the cargo crews, it will take more than a full day."

Ranker reached for his complink again. "Second Company all hands to the control room to sort cargo. Heap all the cargo up in here and in the control room, halls and anywhere else you can stack it. We will then have to break the pallets down, repack them by type, and then scan them. As soon as we fill a freighter, it takes off and goes. Now move it."

"Alpha five to control," the voice came from the commset."I have flown down the transmission vector as ordered and I have a solid contact. It is hard to get a sensor lock on it, it is small. It is also throwing back a lot of ECM. It could be an Imperial scout droid."

"Blast it!" Ranker ordered.

"Roger," the voice said.

"So they were monitoring our operations," Ilene said. "I like this less and less."

"Alpha Five to control, I blasted the object. It was an Imperial scout droid. As it detected me it sent out a burst hyperwave transmission before I could jam it."

"So now they know we are on to them," Ilene continued.

"Skywatch to control, that hyperwave message was beamed out of system and to the base here."

"What!" the three of them said simultaneously.

That made no sense what so ever. Why send a message to a fallen base where all the power has been cut. There was nothing here to receive it. It would be like sending a holo-message to a dead relative. He reached to his complink, "Wilson to Calbar."

"Go ahead, Calbar here, Sir" came the reply.

Being called Sir, still bothered him. "All base systems are shut down, correct?" he asked.

"Everything is off line, nothing is working, why."

"The Imperials just send a coded message to this base. Are you sure nothing is working?" He looked up at Ranker and Ilene.

Ilene reached for her complink." Double check it, something is not right here."

"Roger, Calbar out," he replied.

He looked up at Ranker. "Sir, I know I am a tech specialist and not a military man, but something stinks like Banta shit here. There is something going on we do not understand and it is worrying me."

Ranker nodded, and then there was some shouting from the front of the hanger bay. A large transport was approaching and passing through the open entrance to land on the landing pad below. It set down easily on the pad.

"Get that ship turned around," Ranker ordered. I may need to have it ready to leave on a moment's notice. Get the wounded and the dead on board. Company Three how is that outside landing pad coming?"

"Blasting the trees now, we got room for three freighters. Rest will take a few minutes. You can tell three freighter pilots they can start coming in now."

"Skywatch, did you copy that," Ranker called out.

"Freighters two, three and four approaching now, number five on hold," Shinard reported.

There was nothing more he could do here. He broke away from the HQ and started sorting boxes. It was nearly a half hour later before his search crew came back on the comlink.

"This is Calbar; we have detected nothing except what looks to be residual power down in the water and waste water processing plant. It might be just the automatic controls on independent power. Besides that, this place is dead."

He knew that would be at the extreme bottom of the base. Hardly anyone went down there even when the base was operational. The water and waste water processing was all done by droids. No sentient wanted that duty. He walked back over to the HQ. He motioned to Ilene to come over.

He leaned over and whispered. "Tell me, if you wanted to blow this place to hell and only had one bomb, where would you put it?"

"It take a big bomb," she said. "I place it in the deepest part of the structure. Even if the blast didn't destroy the base, by blowing out the foundation, it would collapse down onto itself."

Ranker overheard the conversation and had the same idea he did.

"Demo one, get down to subbasement three and meet with engineering. Take your disposal equipment with you. Do it now. Engineering, get us into that compartment."

"I'm going down there," he said.

"I'm coming with you," Ilene told him.

They both started running for the stairs. As they ran he heard Ilene yell into her complink.

"Donaldson, take over Strike Team command, the rest of you keep sorting boxes." Both he and Ilene ran down stairs to the lower sub-basement of the structure. There, standing before a large door, stood the engineering team working the door open. There were using a chain and portable driver to open the large door.

"With the power off, we needed this to open the door," Calbar told them. "Fortunately there was one in the machine shop. Our scanners tell us there is power on beyond that door."

The motor drive stained, but the door slid open. Immediately there was a smell of sewer gas filling the room.

"Masks on," Ilene shouted and adjusted hers. He put his on and looked inside.

Inside were the tanks, piping and automated machines of a water and waste water plant, none of it was running. Since there was no power, there were no fans to blow the sewer gas out the exhaust. The engineering teams went inside with hand sensors looking for any power sources. A few seconds later the five person demo team came running down the stairs, each member carrying a large sack.

"Set up out here and put on masks," Ilene ordered and the demo team went to work.

"I found it," one of the engineering team yelled out. There is power going to the emergency exhaust panel"

"Don't open it," the demo team leader shouted. She grabbed her sack and darted inside. Two others ran in with her. The others in her team stayed put. He was content to watch through the door along with Ilene.

"Is that the only power source?" Ilene shouted inside.

"Yes, Major," Calbar yelled back. "Everything else is dead in here."

The demo people started running sensors and other equipment over the outside of the control panel.

"Nothing connected to the access panel," one of the demo people reported, "But I am picking up phased energy power source and a strong residual magnetic field."

The demo team leader looked at her instruments and nodded. "Ok, I am going to open the panel. Everyone else out," she shouted.

The engineering crew wasted no time in leaving along with the other members of the demo team. He watched the team leader use her tools to open the access panel to the emergency exhaust fans. She worked slowly, but efficiently keeping one eye on her job and the other on her instruments. She undid the retaining clamps and the access panel popped open.

The demo leader looked around for a second and then froze. "Mother of Mercy," she said out loud and reached in quickly with her hands. She took out a small box and that had wires attached to it. She quickly put it on the floor."

"Number five power unit, NOW!" she yelled. Her voice had a tone of fear in it.

One of the demo teams bent over and ripped through his pack before taking out a small box with a control dial and display screen. He removed a set of wires from his pack before he ran inside and placed it near his leader. The Demo leader took it and slowly connected the wires to the power source and then to the wires leading to the control panel. She did it very carefully. First one wire and then she connected the other. She then looked at the display on the power box and adjusted the control dial until she caught a nod of the other Demo person. She then reach in and snipped the wires from the control panel.

"Four minutes to spare," she called out to the Major.

"What the hell was it?" Ilene called out.

"Quarter kilo MAM charge set to have the power cut off in four minutes," she said voice now calm. "One half kilo of energy gets released and we become an expanding ball of plasma."

"Those bastards," he said. "It was a set up all the time. That charge would take out the base, our strike team, ground crew, and the freighters. With the EMP, maybe even some of the X-wings overhead."

"Is it safe now," Ilene called out.

"For the next nineteen and a half hours it is," the demo leader told them. "That is when this power cells runs out and releases the magnetic fields on the antimatter." I suggest no one goes in this room anymore. Someone trips over this, and this place and all of us have had it."

"Mother of Mercy indeed," Ilene said as a prayer and got onto her complink. "Marcom to Colonel Ranker put this on private."

They walked back up the stairs with Ilene explaining to Ranker what had almost happened to them. By the time they got back to the hanger bay, Ranker looked at them; his face was still a bit white. He decided he would go back and sort boxes and let Ilene explain their near conversion to ionized gas.

For the next hour they all worked like mad men breaking down some four hundred and fifteen pallets into component piles. They had just finished the last one when his complink went off.

"This is Ranker," please come to command."

"Wilson acknowledge," he said and went back to the command section. He got there all the department heads were gathering. Ranker was there looking for everyone to arrive. When he and two others got there, he spoke up.

"Skywatch just report another burst transmission from an area about fifteen kilometers to our south. It was again short maybe six characters long and impossible to jam. It was beamed outward into deep space. I am having one of the A-wings fly along the vector, but likely the signal is comeing from a spotter. When we didn't explode into atoms by a certain time, my guess is the watcher was ordered to call home and report it. That message will be reported to whoever sent this spy and whoever set up this trap. That person will then report it to Imperial Subsector Command. I expect a response shortly afterwards."

"We are into sorting and scanning," he reported, "But it will still take another three hours to get the pallets repacked and scanned, and then another two hours to get them loaded onto the freighters."

"I do not think we have that long," Ranker said. "I want you to load and scan the power cells and the highest value parts first. Load that first freighter with them as fast as you can. Once it is full, send it out. We will start bringing in the other freighters. If anything comes in system, we do a general bug out to the freighters outside and leave. Major Marcom this place is secure. I want only want the second Company in here helping with the loading. The rest are outside ready to move. Skywatch, I want you to order the X-wings to stand down and go into power conservation mode. We may need them to cover our retreat if the Imperials show up later. The Y-wings will provide freighter escort and the A-wings will stay on patrol. When the A-wings reach critical power reserves, they jump for home."

That did not make sense to him. The prioritizing of the cargo was a great idea, but staying here when everyone in the galaxy knows they are here, did not sit well with him. The Colonel was still in charge. He couldn't add or change anything to the Colonel's plan. He could only wish they all make it out of here in one piece. He got on his complink and explained the new plan to the Chief and Warden.

Using the priority system they had the power cells and flight controls repacked on twenty-four pallets fully scanned and ready to load within the hour. It is amazing how fast a crew of five wookies and half a dozen good cargo teams can load a large freighter when helped by one hundred and fifty sets of hands. Half hour later, it was full. Ranker gave the order for it to fly and freighter two came into the hanger bay. The pallet sorting and scanning didn't stop. Next in line were the computer and electronic parts and spares. That also took the better part of an hour to pack and scan. They were almost finished loading the second freighter when he heard his complink beep again."

"This is Ranker," half a dozen Skipray blast boats just popped into the outer system. They appear to be scouts. Get that second freighter loaded and out of here."

Within ten minutes it was gone too. The third freighter almost hit it. That was that close to the hanger bay door it hovered. The landing pad had not finished smoking before it landed and dropped its cargo ramp.

As they started loading the third freighter with medical supplies and combat gear, every complink in the room went off with the emergency signal. He reached and acknowledged he was on line.

"This is Ranker. We just had a Star Destroyer appear in-system fairly close to the planet. With the Star Destroyer came an Interdictor that is broadcasting gravity waves. All our hyper drives are out. We can assume a massive ground attack shortly, command staff meeting now. "

"Shit!" he called out loud. A few others around him called out more colorful expletives. Now none of them were getting off this rock. Between what the Star Destroyer and that Interdictor carried, no way could they knock that force out with what they had. He dropped his box and started running back to the command post. As he got there he saw the meeting being held. It was a mixture of glum faces tinged with real fear.

"The situation has changed. Both the Star Destroyer and Interdictor are on their way to the planet. The Interdictor is blocking entrance into hyperspace. The A-wings, Y-wings, and X-wings can outrun them and get to an unaffected part of space and then jump, but these freighters will not. We are stuck here and you know what that means."

"We have nothing to take out an Interdictor?" one of the Strike force company commanders asked.

"No," Ranker said. "They have two wings of TIE fighters plus the guns from the Star Destroyer and Interdictor. Our fighters would be destroyed before they got within attack range. We need an Ion Cannot to do us any good.

He looked around and his eyes fell on the stares and what lay below. Then the idea hit him. He started to think about how to work it, he need a fighter. A Y-wing would work best.

"Colonel, we have a one shot Ion Cannon," he said.

They all looked at him as if he was insane. "What?" was all Ilene could say.

"We have a quarter kilo MAM charge below. We put that in a Y-wing, fly it up to the upper reaches of the Atmosphere and set it off. The EMP pulse from that blast would act exactly like an Ion cannon. It would scramble their electronics and knock those grav well projectors off line. It would only be for a minute but that should be long enough.

"It would also fry the freighters," one of the company commanders said.

"Not if we were on the other side of the planet and used the planet's mass as a shield. We need the fighters to leave now. If this works, it will knock out their TIE fighters long enough for us to get away. If not, then it really doesn't matter if we die when the freighters get blown up or the landing force arrives from that Star Destroyer."

Ranker and Ilene looked at him with a mixture of shock and admiration. Ranker reached for his complink.

"This is Ranker to Skywatch. All fighters leave now. Get away from that Interdictor and when you get to clear space, hyperspace for home. I need one Y-wing down here."

"This is Skywatch, Roger."

"This is Ranker abandon the positions. All troops to freighters. All loading stops immediately. All outside companies to freighters four and five. All personnel in the base get to freighter three on the hanger bay. I need a demo team at the command post.

Fifteen minutes he was outside with Calbar and the demo team rigging the MAM change to explode upon command. Freighters four and five had taken off and were already on their way. Calbar programmed the R2 unit to fly the craft into the upper atmosphere. The deep space TIE fighters could not dive into the atmosphere to attack it and even if they did all they do is set the charge off early. They made a fast check to make sure everything was alright and then slammed the cockpit canopy down.

"Let's run," he called out and the six of them ran into the base up the stairs to the hanger bay. As soon as they dove into the freighter, the ramp came up and they took off.

###

A little less than 24 hours later he was in the fresher washing off the grime of Blane. He actually used some water to get soap to lather.

"Don't forget my back," Ilene said. He rubbed her back with the soap and got her cleaned off. They both smelled fresh after getting out and drying off.

"Well flyboy that is two times you got us out of a tight spot," she said with a smile.

"No luck got us out of those predicaments," he countered. "We should have never gotten into them in the first place. I am sorry, but I think Colonel Ranker kept us at that base for too long after we knew it was a trap. If not for that antimatter charge, we would both be dead now Ilene, and you know it."

Ilene glared at him showing a combination of shock and agitation. "All war is calculation," she told him flatly. "We must balance the gain versus the risk. Personally, I think Ranker did the right thing. Luck did not get us out of those situations. Someone who knew how to use what was available did. It does not matter how it happened; we are here now and that is what counts. I never want you to repeat what you just said in public."

He put both his hands up. "I know better than that," he said emphatically "I am no military man, but even I know enough never to undercut Ranker's authority."

Ilene smiled again. "You know quite enough actually. You ought to go in for combat training. You make a damn fine assault troop commander."

"Thanks, I will stay with my instruments," he said.

"Suit yourself," she said and looked toward his bed. "That or dinner?" she asked.

"You know I am going to take dinner," he answered.

'OH," she said letting her towel drop to the floor. "Not interested in this?" she chided him.

"I am hungry, besides I will need my strength later," he joked.

"Yes, you will definitely will," she said moving toward her clean clothes.

"Until the next disaster," he muttered under his breath and reached for his own clean uniform.

 **THE END**


End file.
